The collapse of the glacier, which buried most of the Swiss village on May 28, has once again drawn the world's attention to the risks of global warming. After all, the trend is relevant for all regions: the planet is losing ice cover with global reserves of fresh water, and scientists have already recognized the process as irreversible. This is reported by the Associated Press, reports UNN.
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According to scientists, the destruction of glaciers - from the Alps and Andes to the Himalayas and Antarctica - occurs in different ways. But in almost every case, climate change plays a significant role in this process.
In Switzerland, ice from a mountain slope collapsed because the rock above the Birch Glacier became unstable after permafrost melted in the mountains. Initially, this caused the fall of debris from the glacier, which occasionally crumbled over the past few years, said Martin Traffer, professor of physics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, who studies the movement of glaciers.
Although the peeling of debris slowed the melting of the main body of the glacier, its weight led to ice movement, which accelerated sharply a few weeks ago. Authorities ordered the evacuation of approximately 300 people, as well as all livestock from the village, which fell into the risk zone.
Lakes that form at the foot of glaciers as they melt also pose a threat. After all, these are natural reservoirs with uncontrolled volumes, capable of breaking through the coastal boundary. Therefore, they are potentially dangerous for settlements or infrastructure located nearby.
Water can even lift an entire glacier, allowing it to flow down, Traffer said. He added that Alaska's capital, Juneau, has experienced flooding in recent years. After all, every year a lake forms on nearby, rapidly melting glaciers, which eventually breaks through the borders and water with mud, often mudflows, flows down.
In 2022, a piece of the Marmolada Glacier the size of an apartment building in the Italian Dolomites broke off during a summer heat wave, causing an avalanche of debris on a popular tourist hiking trail, killing 11 people.
In 2016, a glacier suddenly collapsed in the Aru mountain range in Tibet, killing nine people along with their livestock, and another glacier collapsed a few months later.
There have also been collapses in Peru. In particular, in 2006, one such collapse caused a small tsunami. And in April of this year, a glacial lagoon overflowed, causing a landslide that killed two people.
Sometimes it's amazing how quickly they can collapse. The instability of these glaciers is a real problem that only gets worse over time, and thousands and thousands of people live literally under threat.
Scientists say that melting glaciers will raise sea levels for decades, but the loss of inland glaciers also acutely affects those who live nearby and depend on them as a source of water for drinking water and agriculture.
A study published Thursday in the journal Science says that even if global temperatures stabilize at current levels, 40% of the world's glaciers will still be lost. But if warming was limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) - the target mark set by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement - then twice as much glacier mass could be saved.
In any case, given the situation that has already developed, many regions where ancient glaciers now lie will be ice-free in a matter of years, Traffer believes.
In Alaska, for example, there are areas where, as a study showed, no further global warming is needed for the further disappearance of ice. Ice will disappear there in any case. The reason why some glaciers... (still - ed.) exist is simply that they need a certain amount of time to collapse. But the climate is already such that they are already effectively dead.
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